1. Field
A refrigerator is disclosed herein.
2. Background
In general, a refrigerator has a plurality of storage compartments to accommodate food to be stored so as to store the food in a frozen or refrigerated state. The storage compartment may have one surface that is open to receive or dispense the food. The plurality of storage compartments may include a freezer compartment to store food in the frozen state, and a refrigerator compartment to store food in the refrigerated state.
A refrigeration system, in which a refrigerant is circulated, is driven in the refrigerator. The refrigeration system may include a compressor, a condenser, an expansion device, and an evaporator. The evaporator may include a first evaporator disposed at a side of the refrigerator compartment and a second evaporator disposed at a side of the freezer compartment.
Cool air stored in the refrigerator compartment may be cooled while passing through the first evaporator, and the cooled cool air may be supplied again into the refrigerator compartment. Also, the cool air stored in the freezer compartment may be cooled while passing through the second evaporator, and the cooled cool air may be supplied again into the freezer compartment.
As described above, in the refrigerator according to the related art, independent cooling may be performed in the plurality of storage compartments through separate evaporators. According to the refrigerator according to the related art, a refrigerant introduced into the first and second evaporators may be decompressed by the expansion device to change into a two-phase refrigerant, for example, a two-phase refrigerant having a relatively high dryness fraction, thereby deteriorating heat-exchange efficiency in the first and second evaporators.
Also, the refrigerant may be selectively supplied into the first evaporator or the second evaporator according to a cooling operation mode, that is, whether a refrigerator compartment cooling operation or a freezer compartment cooling operation is performed. However, a phenomenon in which an amount of refrigerant circulated in the refrigeration cycle is lacking according to operation mode conditions may occur.